Educational Science

Water detected on the surface of an asteroid for the 1st time ever

Water molecules have been detected on the surface of an asteroid for the first time, revealing new clues about the distribution of water in our solar system. Scientists studied four silicate-rich asteroids using data gathered by the now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a telescope-outfitted plane operated by NASA...

Airplane-size asteroid will have 'very close encounter' with Earth on Saturday — and you can watch it happen

An asteroid discovered earlier this month will reach its closest point to Earth on tomorrow (Jan. 27), when it will soar through the sky at a distance closer to us than the moon. You can watch the airplane-size asteroid as it sails just 220,000 miles (354,000 kilometers) from Earth —...

NASA scientists have finally disassembled the canister containing rocks snatched from a distant potentially hazardous asteroid, and now you can look inside. The sample — roughly 4.3 ounces (120 grams) of rocky space rubble that the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected from the asteroid Bennu — is thought to contain some of...

Watch 'city killer' asteroid fly by Earth today on its closest approach for centuries (Feb. 2)

UPDATE: You can watch the asteroid flyby on the video above for yourself thanks to a live stream from The Virtual Telescope Project, which will begin at 1:00 p.m. ET on Feb. 2. A potentially hazardous football stadium-size asteroid will zip safely past Earth on Friday (Feb. 2), and, in...

Newfound 'moon' around asteroid Dinkinesh is actually two tiny moons touching

On its first asteroid flyby on Nov. 1, NASA's Lucy mission discovered that the main belt asteroid Dinkinesh has a small moon orbiting it. Now, additional images have revealed another surprise: Dinkinesh's moon is not one, but two small satellites. The twin moons initially appeared as one because they are...

'This might be the seeds of life': Organic matter found on asteroid Ryugu could explain where life on Earth came from

A detailed investigation of asteroid Ryugu samples has provided further evidence that the organic molecules which gave rise to life to our planet were brought here by ancient comets. These space rock samples were returned to Earth by Japan's Hayabusa2 mission, which visited the spinning-top-like space rock Ryugu in 2018....

The Geminid meteors may be 10 times older than we thought, simulations of oddball asteroid Phaethon suggest

The rocks making up the Geminid meteor shower that occurs towards the end of every year may have been born through a chaotic event 18,000 years ago, a new study suggests — potentially making the meteoroids about 10 times older than previously estimated. The Geminid shower is named after the...

'Planet killer' asteroids are hiding in the sun's glare. Can we stop them in time?

On the morning of Feb. 15, 2013, a meteor the size of a semitrailer shot out from the direction of the rising sun and exploded in a fireball over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia. Briefly glowing brighter than the sun itself, the meteor exploded with 30 times more energy than...

The 8 most Earth-shattering asteroid discoveries of 2023

Swarming through our solar system by the millions, asteroids are roving space rocks that carry clues to our universe's past — and the potential to destroy our future. In 2023, astronomers made enormous strides in studying these elusive objects. Two ambitious, multi-year missions to collect asteroid samples from space bore...